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diff --git a/Doc/libshelve.tex b/Doc/libshelve.tex deleted file mode 100644 index 90afbc6..0000000 --- a/Doc/libshelve.tex +++ /dev/null @@ -1,61 +0,0 @@ -\section{Standard Module \module{shelve}} -\label{module-shelve} -\stmodindex{shelve} - -A ``shelf'' is a persistent, dictionary-like object. The difference -with ``dbm'' databases is that the values (not the keys!) in a shelf -can be essentially arbitrary Python objects --- anything that the -\code{pickle} module can handle. This includes most class instances, -recursive data types, and objects containing lots of shared -sub-objects. The keys are ordinary strings. -\refstmodindex{pickle} - -To summarize the interface (\code{key} is a string, \code{data} is an -arbitrary object): - -\begin{verbatim} -import shelve - -d = shelve.open(filename) # open, with (g)dbm filename -- no suffix - -d[key] = data # store data at key (overwrites old data if - # using an existing key) -data = d[key] # retrieve data at key (raise KeyError if no - # such key) -del d[key] # delete data stored at key (raises KeyError - # if no such key) -flag = d.has_key(key) # true if the key exists -list = d.keys() # a list of all existing keys (slow!) - -d.close() # close it -\end{verbatim} -% -Restrictions: - -\begin{itemize} - -\item -The choice of which database package will be used (e.g. \code{dbm} or -\code{gdbm}) -depends on which interface is available. Therefore it isn't safe to -open the database directly using \code{dbm}. The database is also -(unfortunately) subject to the limitations of \code{dbm}, if it is used --- -this means that (the pickled representation of) the objects stored in -the database should be fairly small, and in rare cases key collisions -may cause the database to refuse updates. -\refbimodindex{dbm} -\refbimodindex{gdbm} - -\item -Dependent on the implementation, closing a persistent dictionary may -or may not be necessary to flush changes to disk. - -\item -The \code{shelve} module does not support \emph{concurrent} read/write -access to shelved objects. (Multiple simultaneous read accesses are -safe.) When a program has a shelf open for writing, no other program -should have it open for reading or writing. \UNIX{} file locking can -be used to solve this, but this differs across \UNIX{} versions and -requires knowledge about the database implementation used. - -\end{itemize} |